1986 James Hardie 1000
# 1986 James Hardie 1000

The 1986 James Hardie 1000 was an endurance motor race held on 5 October 1986 at the Mount Panorama Circuit, just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the 27th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race, was the fourth round of both the 1986 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.

Allan Grice (in his 15th Great Race start) and his 1986 co-driver and team sponsor through his Chickadee Chicken business Graeme Bailey, took their Roadways Racing built Holden VK Commodore SS Group A to victory over the similar Holden Dealer Team Commodore John Harvey and Neal Lowe. Third was the factory backed Nissan Skyline of pole winner Gary Scott and Terry Shiel.

Dick Johnson and Gregg Hansford finished fourth in their Ford Mustang, while the "Super" team of former rivals Peter Brock and Allan Moffat, who had won 12 of the previous 16 races at Bathurst, finished in fifth place one lap down in their repaired HDT Commodore after losing almost 3 laps in the pits with an oil cooler problem while in a strong second place.

Belgian jeweller Michel Delcourt, who finished 7th with veteran Graham Moore in a Commodore, won the Rookie of the Year award. Moore and Delcourt had qualified a Mitsubishi Starion in 50th place for the 1985 race, but the car was withdrawn and did not start.

## Class structure

The race was held for cars complying with Australian Touring Car regulations, which were based on International Group A touring car rules. It included three engine capacity classes.

### Class A

For cars of up to 2000cc engine capacity, it saw a variety of cars entered. Most numerous were variations of Toyota Corollas, with individual entries of a turbocharged Fiat Uno, a Ford Escort and a Nissan Gazelle.

### Class B

For cars of between 2001 and 3000cc engine capacity, it featured the turbos; Mitsubishi Starion, Nissan Skyline and Volvo 240, but also included Alfa Romeo GTV6, BMW 323i, Mercedes-Benz 190E and Toyota Supra.

### Class C

For cars of over 3000cc engine capacity. Apart from a strong presence of BMW 635 CSi, the swansong of the V12 Jaguar XJS, and the first appearance of a turbocharged Ford Sierra, it was the domain of the V8; Holden Commodore SS Group A, Ford Mustang and Rover Vitesse.

## Hardies Heroes

In a major change to the format, 1986 was the first time in the history of Hardies Heroes that drivers only had one lap to set a time. From 1978–1985, drivers had two laps in which to set a time.

| Pos | No | Team | Driver | Car | HH | Qual |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pole | 15 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | Gary Scott | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 2:17.159 | 2:18.29 |
| 2 | 2 | Roadways Racing | Allan Grice | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 2:17.246 | 2:16.16 |
| 3 | 30 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | George Fury | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 2:19.044 | 2:18.68 |
| 4 | 11 | Enzed Team Perkins | Larry Perkins | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 2:19.433 | 2:19.39 |
| 5 | 44 | Volvo Dealer Team | John Bowe | Volvo 240T | 2:19.594 | 2:18.58 |
| 6 | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson | Ford Mustang GT | 2:19.808 | 2:18.84 |
| 7 | 6 | Bob Jane T-Marts | Graeme Crosby | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 2:20.370* | 2:19.93 |
| 8 | 1 | JPS Team BMW | Jim Richards | BMW 635 CSi | 2:20.751 | 2:19.53 |
| 9 | 21 | Goold Motorsport | Roberto Ravaglia | BMW 635 CSi | 2:20.955 | 2:18.19 |
| 10 | 53 | Mitsubishi Ralliart | Brad Jones | Mitsubishi Starion Turbo | 2:35.969 | 2:18.91 |

* Peter Brock had qualified the #05 Holden Dealer Team Commodore 2nd fastest with a 2:18.10 but the car was heavily damaged in a crash in Fridays's qualifying by Allan Moffat and was not repaired in time for Hardies Heroes and was subsequently withdrawn from the session by the team. Race organisers the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) then elevated the Graeme Crosby Commodore into the Top 10 Runoff in its place. Brock had also qualified the HDT's #3 car with a time of 2:17.7 (good enough for 2nd behind Grice), but the race rules prevented car swapping in qualifying and his time only served to qualify him in car #3 for the race and not Hardie's Heroes. It was the first time Brock would not appear in the Saturday morning runoff since its inception in 1978, leaving Dick Johnson as the only driver to have done so. * Allan Grice became the first Group A driver to lap the 6.172 km (3.835 mi) circuit at over 100 mph (161 km/h) with a 2:16.16 lap in Friday qualifying in his Holden VK Commodore SS Group A. Grice had also been the first to lap the track at over 100 mph in a Group C touring car in 1982 driving a VH Commodore. He had also set his qualifying time running on Dunlop Tyres and not the Yokohama's he was required by contract to run when the television cameras were running in the runoff. * Through their mutual Philip Morris cigarette sponsorship, the Peter Jackson Nissan team had tyre warmers for their cars flown out from the McLaren Formula One team in England to cope with the cold conditions, the first time the technology had been used in Australian touring car racing. Despite this and the fact that he was the only driver to improve on his qualifying time, pole winner Gary Scott believed the tyres on the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 were still not up to full operating temperature. * The 1986 version of Hardie's Heroes saw four new drivers contesting the Saturday morning runoff for pole position. Pole winner Scott, John Bowe (5th), Graeme Crosby (7th), and Brad Jones (10th). Scott (1979 and 1982) and Bowe (1985) had previously been in cars that had qualified for the runoff, but it was their respective co-drivers who had set the times. * Brad Jones, whose Mitsubishi Starion had been the fastest car on Conrod Straight during qualifying at 269 km/h (167 mph), was forced by officials to run on smaller width wheels during the runoff after checks revealed the car was using wider tyres than was allowed. Jones aborted his lap in Hardies Heroes at the top of the mountain after the smaller wheels caused the car to handle badly.

## Official results

| Pos | Class | No | Team | Drivers | Car | Laps | Qual Pos | Shootout Pos |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | C | 2 | Roadways Racing | Allan Grice Graeme Bailey | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 163 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | C | 3 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | John Harvey Neal Lowe | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 163 | 13 | |
| 3 | B | 15 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | Gary Scott Terry Shiel | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 163 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | C | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson Gregg Hansford | Ford Mustang GT | 162 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | C | 05 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | Peter Brock Allan Moffat | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 162 | 11 | |
| 6 | C | 1 | JPS Team BMW | Jim Richards Tony Longhurst | BMW 635 CSi | 161 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | C | 22 | Formula 1 Investments P/L | Graham Moore Michel Delcourt | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 158 | 18 | |
| 8 | C | 8 | Cullen Supa Salvage | Warren Cullen Gary Sprague | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 157 | 12 | |
| 9 | B | 41 | Bob Jane T-Marts | Denny Hulme Franz Klammer | Mercedes-Benz 190E | 157 | 23 | |
| 10 | B | 36 | Everlast Battery Service | Murray Carter Bill O'Brien | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 157 | 42 | |
| 11 | B | 42 | Volvo Dealer Team | Graham McRae Neville Crichton John Bowe | Volvo 240T | 156 | 24 | |
| 12 | C | 37 | Airport Car Rental | Chris Clearihan Fred Geissler | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 156 | 34 | |
| 13 | C | 6 | Bob Jane T-Marts | Graeme Crosby Wayne Wilkinson | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 156 | 10 | 7 |
| 14 | C | 19 | Tony Mulvihill | Ken Mathews Tony Mulvihill Barry Jones | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 155 | 31 | |
| 15 | C | 23 | Lusty Engineering P/L | Graham Lusty John Lusty | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 154 | 37 | |
| 16 | C | 38 | Grellis Marketing | Kerry Baily Ray Ellis | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 150 | 33 | |
| 17 | C | 26 | Simon Emmerling | Simon Emmerling Trevor Hine | BMW 635 CSi | 149 | 45 | |
| 18 | B | 57 | Network Alfa | Lucio Cesario Warwick Rooklyn | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 148 | 47 | |
| 19 | A | 61 | Toyota Team Australia | John Faulkner Mike Quinn | Toyota Corolla GT | 148 | 52 | |
| 20 | C | 91 | Graham Lorimer | Graham Lorimer Phil Myhre | BMW 635 CSi | 146 | 51 | |
| 21 | A | 60 | Giddings Moss Vale Nissan | Bruce Stewart John Giddings | Nissan Gazelle | 146 | 50 | |
| 22 | C | 18 | Terry Finnigan | Terry Finnigan Steve Williams | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 144 | 30 | |
| 23 | C | 48 | The Xerox Shop | Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 144 | 44 | |
| 24 | C | 10 | John Goss | John Goss Bob Muir | Jaguar XJS | 140 | 26 | |
| 25 | C | 11 | Enzed Team Perkins | Larry Perkins David Parsons | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 140 | 7 | 4 |
| 26 | A | 58 | Ratcliff Transport Spares | David Ratcliff Don Smith | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 140 | 58 | |
| 27 | A | 13 | Bob Holden Motors | Bob Holden Geoff Kimber-Smith | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 138 | 55 | |
| DNF | C | 47 | Brian Callaghan | Barry Graham Brian Callaghan | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 140 | 25 | |
| DNF | C | 24 | Jagparts | Gerald Kay Martin Power | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 135 | 29 | |
| DNF | B | 87 | Brian Bolwell | Brian Bolwell Tony Farrell | BMW 323i | 124 | 54 | |
| DNF | B | 30 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing | George Fury Glenn Seton | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 114 | | 3 |
| DNF | B | 44 | Volvo Dealer Team | John Bowe Alfredo Costanzo | Volvo 240T | 113 | 9 | 5 |
| DNF | B | 75 | Network Alfa | Colin Bond Peter Fitzgerald | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 111 | 36 | |
| DNF | C | 34 | Lansvale Smash Repairs | Steve Reed Trevor Ashby | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 111 | 16 | |
| NC | A | 56 | Frank Cecchele | Gordon Mitchell Allan McCarthy | Fiat Uno Turbo | 110 | 59 | |
| DNF | C | 9 | JPS Team BMW | Kevin Bartlett Trevor Crowe | BMW 635 CSi | 109 | 17 | |
| NC | C | 32 | John English | John English Glenn McIntyre | BMW 635 CSi | 101 | 40 | |
| DNF | C | 35 | Lester Smerdon | Lester Smerdon Geoff Russell | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 100 | 28 | |
| DNF | C | 50 | John Donnelly | John Donnelly Simon Harrex | Rover Vitesse | 98 | 53 | |
| NC | B | 49 | Ray Gulson | Ray Gulson Frank Porter | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 94 | 46 | |
| NC | C | 39 | Trevor McLean | Trevor McLean Rod Downs | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 90 | 43 | |
| DNF | C | 12 | Garry Willmington | Garry Willmington Peter Janson | Jaguar XJS | 88 | 14 | |
| DNF | C | 43 | Anderson & O'Leary Ltd. | Bruce Anderson Wayne Anderson | Ford Mustang GT | 81 | 39 | |
| DNF | C | 96 | Tim Slako | Tim Slako Geoff Leeds | Rover Vitesse | 77 | 32 | |
| DNF | B | 53 | Mitsubishi Ralliart | Brad Jones Akihiko Nakaya | Mitsubishi Starion Turbo | 61 | 6 | 10 |
| DNF | C | 4 | Autopart Centre | Peter McLeod Glenn Clark | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 48 | 15 | |
| DNF | A | 62 | Bob Holden Motors | Keith McClelland Brian Nightingale | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 38 | 57 | |
| DNF | C | 29 | Ken Davison | Ken Davison Wally Kramer | Ford Mustang GT | 36 | 48 | |
| DNF | C | 20 | James Keogh | Jim Keogh Des Wall | BMW 635 CSi | 30 | 41 | |
| DNF | C | 40 | Motorsport Pacific Ltd. | Robbie Francevic Leo Leonard | Ford Sierra XR4Ti | 27 | 21 | |
| DNF | A | 55 | Motorsport Pacific Ltd. | Andrew Bagnall Ted Jarvis | Ford Escort RS 1600i | 23 | 56 | |
| DNF | C | 7 | Goold Motorsport | Charlie O'Brien Garry Rogers | BMW 635 CSi | 19 | 22 | |
| DNF | B | 51 | Team Nissan Racing NZ | Graeme Bowkett Kent Baigent | Nissan Skyline DR30 RS | 13 | 38 | |
| DNF | C | 27 | Dulux Auto Colour | Alf Grant John French | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 11 | 20 | |
| DNF | C | 33 | Michael Burgmann | Mike Burgmann Mal Rose | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 5 | 27 | |
| DNF | C | 28 | Yellow Pages | Tony Kavich Ralph Radburn | Holden VK Commodore SS Group A | 4 | 19 | |
| DNF | A | 16 | Toyota Team Australia | John Smith Drew Price | Toyota Corolla GT | 3 | 49 | |
| DNF | C | 21 | Goold Motorsport | Roberto Ravaglia Dieter Quester | BMW 635 CSi | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| DNF | B | 14 | Bob Jane T-Marts | Andrew Miedecke Jörg van Ommen | Mercedes-Benz 190E | 1 | 35 | |
| DNS | B | 77 | Peter Williamson Toyota | Peter Williamson Mark Skaife | Toyota Celica Supra | | | |
| DNS | B | 25 | JPS Team BMW | Tony Longhurst Trevor Crowe | BMW 325i | | | |

Italics indicate driver practiced this car but did not race.

## Statistics

* Provisional Pole Position - #2 Allan Grice - 2:16.16
* Pole Position - #15 Gary Scott - 2:17.159
* Fastest Lap - #2 Allan Grice - 2:18.99
* Average Speed - 155 km/h
* Race Time - 6:30:35.68

## Mike Burgmann

The 1986 James Hardie 1000 is unfortunately also remembered for the death of Sydney privateer Mike Burgmann. On lap 5, Burgmann's Holden VK Commodore SS Group A and the privateer Jaguar XJS of his friend Garry Willmington were neck and neck over the notorious second hump on Conrod Straight at approximately 260 km/h (162 mph) when the front of the Commodore got airborne (as cars did coming over the hump at that speed, more so for cars on the right hand side or outside part of the track which is where Burgmann was). The front of the Commodore moved slightly to the left and Burgmann, who was only a part-time racer, tried to correct by turning the wheel to the right. Unfortunately for Burgmann, the front tyres suddenly gripped when they landed and the car then turned into and hit the tyre barrier at the bottom of the well-known curved bridge at the end of Conrod with unabated speed causing the entire front end to be pushed back to the firewall. The car's roll cage did its job and the cabin survived the violent impact mostly intact. However, when officials reached the car they found Burgmann in what would normally be the back seat of the vehicle. While his driving seat had remained intact the force of the impact had broken the seat belt buckle which caused his body to be thrown out of the seat. Mike Burgmann became the first driver to die while competing in the Bathurst 1000 when he was pronounced dead on arrival at Bathurst Hospital.

